Greed is too Harsh; Let's Call it 'Finessing'

[DOUGHBOYS]

I like writing about the angst we all go through while drafting. For me, a 'Live draft' is completely different than an online draft. An online draft is a little more impersonal. All the names are right there in front of us, almost served on a platter. We have a que with favored players just waiting to be drafted. When somebody takes a player we hate, we give a little fist pump when drafted way too early for our tastes. At the same time, we give teams the finger when they draft seemingly from the top of our que down.

Some folks take their computers to live drafts. They like that all the names are right there in front of them. I can understand that. And like I've stated in previous posts, some with computers total up their projections with each pick and that works for them. I relish the live draft. Just me and my notebook. And, of course, we can give shit to other drafters and they can see the facial expressions and know that we are just trying to get a smile.

No matter which way we draft, there is one thing we all experience. To greed or not to greed. Inevitably, if picking in the middle of a round, we will want two players and not one. We ache over the thought of losing out on one of these players. While playing in the 'Tell All Draft' an NFBC player who cashed last year stated that he made almost every pick with the thought of not taking the best player of the two, but taking the player with the least chance of making it back to him.
For instance, if loving both Stanton and Bautista and favoring Bautista between the two, he would take Stanton, knowing he's 'the people's choice' and hope that Bautista makes it back to him.

This is called 'finessing'. Or, 'playing the adp'. Really, it's a measure of our own greed.
It can come back to bite us in the ass. And in this drafters case, if Bautista goes on to have a big year, it'll make his year long and insufferable. We all go through it and we all have our own way of dealing with it. Sometimes, the same player will be considered three or four rounds in a row. Self doubt creeps in, in that we may have thought too highly of this player and thank God we didn't take him three rounds ago!

A long, long time ago in a home draft, I gave drafters the option to avoid the angst. After the first five rounds were in the books, any drafter had the option to 'double up' on a pick. For instance, if in the ninth round and the drafter just cannot decide between Napoli or Montero, he has the option to double up and take both. His penalty for doubling up, is missing picks in both the 10th and 11th rounds before doubling up in the 12th round to catch him up with the rest of the draft.

Sometimes, Ill get internally indignant when finessing a player. When working and that player does come back to me, I'll think what's wrong with this guy that the other drafters didn't take him?
Are they stupid?
Then when the season begins, I'll start thinking, dammit, I was the stupid one!
Last year, I remember finessing Carl Crawford in a Main Draft, in that case, I was happy it didn't work out.

This year, there are several players who will miss time at the beginning of the season.
Granderson, Teixeira, Hart, Headley. These type players are popular for finessing. A change of mind could be made once they indeed make it back to you as well.
We start thinking, what if they have a set back?
What if they don't get their power back?
What if this injury leads to another?
What if the time line is wrong?
How much will my lineup suffer before these players are suiting up again?
It's tough taking a player like these. We're getting a discount built in with them, but this is an 'as is' sale. Like buying a used car, we'll draft, drive it, and pray it isn't a lemon.